Nile Gardiner is a Washington-based foreign affairs analyst and political commentator. A former aide to Margaret Thatcher, Gardiner has served as a foreign policy adviser to two US presidential campaigns. He appears frequently on American and British television, including Fox News Channel, BBC, and Fox Business Network.

Foreign Affairs Committee trashes the US-UK alliance: David Cameron must defend the Special Relationship

The House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee has declared the “Special Relationship” to be dead. In what can only be described as a staggeringly unhelpful move in the middle of a major war in Afghanistan, the Labour-dominated committee has published a report today which actively undercuts the alliance between Great Britain and the United States. It should be noted that at least five MPs on the 14-Member committee dissented.

A summary of the report’s recommendations, by committee chairman Mike Gapes, the "Labour and Cooperative Party MP" for Ilford South, can be found here. In essence it describes the Special Relationship as an anachronism and a one-way street, with Britain unfairly portayed as subservient to the United States. The simplistic and misleading report, which frankly looks as though it could have been churned out by the propaganda office of the European Commission, declares:

"The use of the phrase 'the special relationship' in its historical sense, to describe the totality of the ever-evolving UK-US relationship, is potentially misleading, and we recommend that its use should be avoided.”

"The overuse of the phrase by some politicians and many in the media serves simultaneously to de-value its meaning and to raise unrealistic expectations about the benefits the relationship can deliver to the UK."

The Commons report, entitled Global Security: UK-US Relations, plays into the hands of anti-American supporters of a federal Europe who view the Special Relationship as a major barrier to the development of a common European defence identity and foreign policy, and wish it would simply go away. It will no doubt be endlessly quoted by Brussels bureaucrats and continental European politicians who are keen to bring an end to “Anglo-Saxon” dominance of world affairs.

It will also provide valuable ammunition for wrong-headed strategists in the Obama administration who believe that Washington should loosen its ties to London in favour of closer relations with Brussels, Moscow and Beijing. The Committee’s recommendations will only serve to encourage the Obama White House to be even more dismissive of America’s closest ally, at a time of heightening diplomatic tensions over the Falklands issue.

It simply defies belief that MPs are pouring cold water on the Anglo-American alliance when 10,000 British troops are fighting alongside their US allies against the Taliban, in what is an overwhelmingly US-British-led campaign. The biggest beneficiary of this report will be Britain and America’s enemies and strategic competitors on the world stage who are keen to bring an end to the most successful partnership of modern times.

As the likely next Prime Minister of Great Britain, David Cameron should reject the report’s core recommendations, and declare that a Conservative government will defend the Special Relationship. The Conservative leadership includes several figures who are prominent supporters of Britain’s relationship with the United States, including Liam Fox, William Hague, Michael Gove and George Osborne. Their voices should be heard on the issue, emphasizing the centrality of the Anglo-American alliance to British foreign policy.

The alliance is vital to Britain’s national interest, from close-knit military cooperation and intelligence sharing, to huge levels of transatlantic trade and investment. There can be no doubt that vital intelligence provided by the United States to Britain in the aftermath of 9/11 prevented several major al-Qaeda attacks on British soil, saving large numbers of British lives.

As I wrote in an earlier piece for The Wall Street Journal, the preservation of the Special Relationship must be at the centre of a Tory foreign policy. It is the beating heart of the free world and the engine that drives the global war against Islamist terrorism. Mr. Cameron should follow the example of both Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher in ensuring that the long-term alliance with the United States remains the anchor of British leadership on the world stage.

It is vital that like-minded countries should be ready to stand alongside the United States in international crises, countries on which America can rely. It is my pride that the United Kingdom has always been ready to do that, and I hope that it will continue. Whatever people say, the special relationship does exist, it does count and it must continue, because the United States needs friends in the lonely task of world leadership. More than any other country, Britain shares America's passionate commitment to democracy and willingness to stand and fight for it. You can cut through all the verbiage and obfuscation. It's really as simple as that.